16 Year Old with Tinnitus

Around December (15-18th) 2016 I fell down the stairs and hit the back of my head on the plaster wall. 30 minutes after the fall I heard this moderate ringing in my left ear and then another 20 mins later it went into my right ear and over the weeks I have had constant neck pain, ear pain, head pain (usually pain behind the ears, dizziness, light headedness and The scariest of it all is my full blown roaring tinnitus that I have. My tinnitus has been constant since I first heard it after the fall. No matter what situation I am in (tinnitus masking, classroom, in public) it would always be there. I have gotten insanely anxious and depressed over this condition as it is so irritable for my brain as I feel pain from it at times also. I'm mostly anxious knowing that the sound may never go away and return to a state I liked it at before. Prior to the fall, I had tinnitus but I could only hear it if the room was dead silent. I at nights do find it to be a massive pain to fall asleep.

I have been to the doctors a couple of times, the first one said it was a virus and when I came back 3 weeks later they looked into it and referred me to a CAT scan. I am now waiting for the results from the doctor on Monday. I have also been to the psychologist a couple of times but I do still feel really depressed over the ringing in my ears. I am currently on Lovan medication so I don't know if tinnitus is a side effect

I don't know if this is to blame but I have always been an avid user of headphones and speakers. There were times where I would use them everyday and use them before bed to shake off the worries I had on that particular. Out of the two years I have done it, I have fallen asleep with headphones in 5 times. When I listen to music, I listen to it at 50-75%. I don't know if this means my ears are weak but I don't want to find out I'm going to be listening to an excruciating noise for the rest of my life. I do also notice that stressing about it makes it worse and it is hard for me to forget about the noise as it is really loud most of the time.

I really think this will be one of the most hardest obstacles in my life but I'd rather take a broken bone or a burn over the excruciating ringing in my ears.

 

In your case, I would say there is hope. I'm not a doctor or anything similar, but the fact your tinnitus was mainly produced by a physical trauma makes me think it may have some kind of fixing.

 

Welcome to the forum. I feel for your struggle at this young age for this T torment. Saying that, I hope you won't think this is an end game or one which can forever destroy your young life. I am not underestimating your suffering, of course. But you are young and your T is relatively new. There are lots of variables that can improve over time. When I first had my ultra high pitch loud T, I thought it was the end of the world for me. Then I also got severe hyperacusis on top of that. I thought no way I could survive those two together. I had no hope for my future and I had relentless anxiety and panic attacks daily from the moment I woke up with the loud T. I never thought I would see good life again. But never say never. Today I live a normal, productive and absolutely enjoyable life. The future turns out not so bad. I wrote my success story and mentioned the inspiring story of a young pretty girl Zoe Cartwright who turned totally deaf at young 15. It was bad enough to lose all hearing at that young age, but worse she also got loud unmaskable T 7/24 (due to her deafness preventing her from hearing any masking sounds). Yet amazingly she survives the 'mountain' of hurdle in front of her and went on to university where she made a tinnitus film to let others know what it is like to live in a surreal, unmaskable T 7/24. You can read up her story on my success story in the 'guiding lights' section where I also provide the link to her film. Take good care. Don't despair. Better time will come. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/from-darkness-to-light-how-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

By the way many young people get better and write their success stories too. So being young may help with healing. Here are some samples:

success story of 17 years old Zach:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/fake-it-until-you-make-it.7590/

success story of Jari with T since 12 years old:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new.7670/

lana got T at 15 and getting better:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/positivity.13050/